Adeline Gray (USA) celebrates after pinning Epp Maee (EST) and winning her record sixth World gold medal. Photo by Justin Hoch.
Day five (session 10) inside Jordal Amfi arena on Wednesday afternoon was a busy session for the USA women's freestylers. Helen Maroulis (57kg), Maya Nelson (59kg), and Tamyra Mensah-Stock (68kg) were in semifinals matches.
Maroulis will go for her third World gold (fifth World medal) tomorrow, while Nelson and Mensah-Stock will compete for bronze.
Plus, later in the session, Sarah Hildebrandt (50kg) earned her second World silver medal. Forrest Molinari (65kg) earned her first World bronze medal. Adeline Gray (76kg) won her sixth World gold medal, the most of any wrestler in Team USA history.
https://twitter.com/USAWrestling/status/1445833257589690372
Inside the Medal-Round Bouts
Sarah Hildebrandt faced Japan's Remina Yoshimoto, a 2017 Cadet World gold medalist. Like so many of the Japanese athletes, Yoshimoto made her Senior Worlds debut this week in Oslo, and she won a gold medal, too. Yoshimoto won 5-3.
In an action-packed match filled with numerous excellent scrambles, Hildebrandt jumped out to a 3-0 lead before taking a 3-2 lead into the break. Sarah's points came off of a passivity point and a takedown. Then, a step-out for Yoshimoto knotted things at 3-3.
With 30 seconds remaining, the critical scramble occurred. In the flurry, Hildebrandt gave up two for exposure at the edge. The match would end with that same 5-3 score.
Still, Sarah Hildebrandt wins a silver medal at 50kg at the 2021 World Championships!
https://twitter.com/TeamUSA/status/1445791313048211465
At 65kg, Forrest finally broke through for her first World medal after taking fifth in 2018 and 2019. The American got it done in an incredibly dominant fashion against Belarus's 2019 Rio Olympic silver medalist Maryia Mamashuk. Molinari won 12-1.
Mamashuk was not afraid to shoot, but on multiple shot attempts, Molinari successfully countered and turned it into points for herself. Four takedowns, a lace, and another pair of points for exposure got it done. The only point against Forrest was a caution-and-one early in period two.
Forrest Molinari wins a bronze medal at 65kg at the 2021World Championships!
https://twitter.com/TeamUSA/status/1445801486647103496
In Team USA's final medal-round match of the session, five-time World champion Adeline Gray added a sixth gold medal to her collection. This time, the reigning 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medalist beat No. 2 seed Epp Maee of Estonia by fall (Gray was winning 6-4 at the time of the fall).
The match got off to a rocky start for the Gray as she fell behind 4-0 on a shot clock point, a takedown at the edge, plus a failed challenge on that aforementioned takedown.
In the second period, Gray was down, but not out. The now nine-time World/Olympic medalist mounted her comeback by scoring six unanswered points and ended it by fall with three seconds remaining in the bout.
With just north of 90 seconds remaining in the match, Gray's comeback got started. A pair of points for exposure, a shot clock point, a takedown, a trap-arm gut, and it was over. Gray pinned the 2020 Olympian and 2019 Senior World bronze medalist from Estonia.
With the come-from-behind victory, Adeline Gray now has nine career World/Olympic medals, including six World titles (the first U.S. wrestler to accomplish such a feat). In Oslo, the champ pinned her way through the field.
https://twitter.com/USAWrestling/status/1445815265179185152
https://twitter.com/TeamUSA/status/1445813674610872325
Inside the Semifinal Bouts
Two-time Olympic medalist Helen Maroulis came from behind to earn a spot in the 2021 World Championships gold-medal match tomorrow.
After getting a step-out to take a 1-0 lead over Japan's five-time age-level World medalist Sae Nanjo, Helen gave up a four-pointer at the edge with 30 seconds remaining in period one.
Helen responded by securing a takedown at the buzzer to cut the deficit to 4-3 heading into the break. The takedown set the tone for an action-packed second frame.
The critical takedown came with 30 seconds left to give the American a narrow 5-4 lead. Then, Nanjo got in on Maroulis' leg in the final 20 seconds, but Helen fought it off and won 6-4 after a failed challenge by Japan.
At 59kg, 2017 Junior World champion and 2021 Senior PanAm champion Maya Nelson lost 4-1 to Japan's Akie Hanai, a 2019 Junior World champion and 2018 Senior U23 runner-up.
After trailing 2-0 at the break, Nelson added a step-out point in the second to cut the deficit in half. However, 2-1 is as close as it would get for the American. Nelson was taken down again in the second. She lost 4-1. Nelson will has the opportunity to compete for World bronze tomorrow.
At 68kg, 2020 Olympic gold-medal Tamyra Mensah-Stock suffered a massive upset to Japan's Rin Miyaji, who made her Senior-level debut in Oslo and has zero Senior World medals or age-level World medals to her credit.
https://twitter.com/SpeyWrestle/status/1445771890232938496
With Mensah-Stock in on a shot right after the opening whistle, Miyaji countered, locked up a cradle, and got the fall in just 21 seconds to stun the defending Olympic champ. Mensah-Stock will look to bounce back and earn bronze tomorrow.
Also of note, Cavusoglu Tosun (Turkey) lost in the 72kg semifinal. As a result, Kylie Welker (USA) is not pulled back into the tournament.
OTHER TOM COVERAGE FROM THE 2021 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Session 1 Recap here
Session 2 Recap here
Session 3 Recap here
Session 4 Recap here
Session 5 Recap here
Session 6 Recap here
Session 7 Recap here
Session 8 Recap here
Session 9 Recap here
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